With a humble nod to Puck Daddy, we take a look at the Islanders’ new third jerseys that debuted tonight.

The jerseys were probably the worst kept hockey secret on the Internet over the past few weeks. First leaked by someone associated with designing them and then just about as confirmed as you can get without the team acknowledging them; found by Icethetics in a River City Sports catalog. Tonight, we have official confirmation from the team at their ‘Winter Wonderland’ gala that the black and blue jerseys are, in fact, the team’s new thirds for the year.

The black third jerseys follow a trend across the league where teams are adopting black jerseys with Carolina and Boston coming to mind. Although black seems logical and well-intentioned to stick with the current trend around the league, it usually doesn’t get paired with blue. I believe that’s a fashion faux pas but I’d have to ask Sean Avery for more about fashion.

Like them or not though, any perceived failure of these jerseys by the fanbase will likely be magnified by the team’s on-ice struggles. That can’t be ignored because third jerseys are, for all intents and purposes, cash grabs. Doesn’t matter what team or league we’re talking about, in the business of sports that is what they are. For a team that could probably use the cash, any perceived or actual missed revenue due to the design itself is unfortunate.

So, it is only a jersey but with the team’s er, history with jerseys it’s certainly a topic that will be a polarizing one in Islander Country. I leave it to you, fans. What do you think of the third jersey? Will you buy it? Let your voice be heard in the poll below and in comments.